Pressure responsive mercury switch



y 7, 1953 w. J. TURNUPSEED. ETAL 2,644,866

PRESSURE BESPONSIVE MERCURY SWITCH Filed June 20, 1950 Winifred J.Tumupseed Harley E. Turnupseed INVENTORS BY flaw...

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Patented July 7, 1953 PRE SSUREIRESPONSIVE MERCURY SWITCH Winifred J LTurnupseed, Porterville, and Harley E. Turnupseed, Tulare, Calif;

Application June20, 1950, Serial No..169,10.6

4'Claims'. (Cl. 200-453) a This invention relates to the class ofelectrical switches, and particularly to a' time delay switch using afluid conductor such as mercury for. closing a pair of; electricalcontacts to completeanele'ctrical circuit.

An object of this invention is to. provide a switch having a containerfor. a fluid conductor such as mercury therein, which container isprovideo. with a baffle for determining the time necessary for thepassage of'the fluid conductor a housing in which a pressure responsivediaphragm I2 is mounted. The diaphragm is controlled by the pressureapplied through the confrom one portion of. the switch to another so. as

to control the time between the actuation of. the. switchand theclosing. of apair of. electrical con,

tacts locatedth'erein, and, to further control the time between thede-activation of the switch and the time at which the. fluid conductorwill pass to a chamber opposed to.. the chamber where the. contacts arein so as to openthe circuits. between the contacts. I

A further object. of. this invention is to provide pressure actuatedmeans for actuating the mercury switch. which. include a. spring pressedroller 28.. Also mounted on the. housing Illby. suitable rivets or bolts36- is a bracket. 3.2.. towhich.

link mechanism, operatively secured. to a pressure responsive diaphragmand to the container of the. fluid conductor.

Still. further. objects of' the invention reside in. the provision of. amercury switch. that is.

strong, durable, highly efficient. in operation, simple. in constructionand manufacture; flowacting, relatively. easy to, manufacture having theability to be manufactured in difierent sizes that at given. ranges of,time delay, and which mercury switch is comparatively inexpensive.

These, together. with. various ancillary objects of the invention whichwill become apparent asthe following description proceeds, are attainedby this mercury switch, a preferred. embodiment. of which has beenillustrated in. the-accompany ing drawings, by way of example, whereinz.

Figure 1 is a side view with parts being shown in; section of themercury switch in a. position with the mercury tube. at rest with. thefluid.

conductor in such position as to permit an open circuit. between thecontacts in the switch;

Figure 2; is a side elevational view with parts being shown in sectionto show the invention more clearly, and with the mercury tubein an atrest position with the contacts closed;

Figure 3: is avertical sectional view as taken along line. 3-3 in Figurel Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along line4-4' in Figure1'; and

Figure 5 is. a perspective view of the bafilewhich is. secured in thecontainer for the liquid and which comprises one element of the presentinvention.

With continuing. reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like.reference numerals designate similar parts. throughout the. various duitI4 operatively connected thereto. .Pivotally connected to the diaphragmis a rod l6 which is threaded as at [8 and which passes through. thehousing l0. By means of nut 21! and spring, 22.

the amount of movement-of the diaphragm [2.

relative to the pressure applied through. the conduit M can beadjustably controlled.

By means of a bracket 24 there is pivotally mounted and connected to thediaphragm i=2 an arm 26 which has rotatably mounted. thereon a asubstantially L-shapedworker arm 34 is. pivotally attached by a pivotpin 35. arm 34 is riveted or otherwise attached to a clamp like member36 which encompasses and rigidly holds a container portion 38 of, a.fluid conductor or mercury switch. having. a pair of spaced contacts 40and.

The clamp 36 consists of. two portions 44 and 46 which by means, of,bolt 48 and: nut 50: are

7 held together in-an embracing relationship about the container 38. Acoiled. spring 52 is terminally secured. to the. arm 26 and to, thebracket 32 and continuously urges the roller 28 into'engagement withvthe beveled end 54 of the worker arm 34. Another tension spring 56 isterminally attached to the worker arm 34and to the bracket 32.fo-r.continuously urging the worker armdownwardly and selectively urging the.worker arm 34 into engagementwith the. roller 28.

The. contacts 4-2 and 49' extend through the end wall. 58. which isformed from a suitable in-- sulative material. 7 The, container-38 is.filled witha-suitable fluid-conductor such as mercury (land has a bafileor partition 82 secured therein thus effectively. dividing the containerinto two compartments. There isprovided an aperture. 64

in the baflie 62 for. effectuating a' passageway for 1 An opening themercury 60 through. the baflie. 66 in the bafiie is providedior thepassage of air to. compensate for the now of. the fiuidconductor. Y

The operation of; this time. delayedaction mercury switch is asfollows:

When the=pressurefrom the pressure" conduit spring 56. as; shown inFigure 2. When the pressure. in=. the conduit. I4 is reduced below thiscritical point, the diaphragm arm 26 willmovedownward with therollcrili! engaging the point 54 of' the arm 34. After the roller 28passes the dead" center of the end 54 of the worker arm 34; the

worker arm 34. changes its. positionvery quicklymovingthe: mercury tube.to the raised position with the heel 12 of the arm 34 in contact withthe The. worker 3 stop 14 limiting the upward movement of the point 54as shown in Figure 1. The contact end of the mercury tube is raised andthe mercury passes through the opening 64 at a substantially slow ratethus permitting the circuit between the contacts 4|] and 42 to remainclosed for a suitable delay until enough mercury passes into theopposite portion of the container 38 thus opening the circuit.

When pressure in the line 14 again achieves the critical pressure, thepivoted arm 26 moves upwardly and when the pivoted roller passes thedead center line as before the worker arm is actuated so as to returnthe mercury tube to back its, normal position as shown in Figure 2. Themercurypasses slowly back through the aper-. ture 64 and after asuitable delay closes the circuit between the contacts 40 and 42.

It is to be understood that this particular type of mercury switch can.be changed to operate many time-given ranges of time-delay, by changingthe size of the hole '54, by changing thesize of the baiile 82, bychanging the size of the mercury tube 38, by increasing the amount ofmercury or by suitably positioning of the contacts .40 and 42.

It is to be further understood that this type of mercury switch canoperate through open contacts at high pressure and to close the contactsat low pressure or vice versa.

Since from the foregoing the construction and advantages of this mercuryswitch are readily apparent and further description is believed to beunnecessary.

However, since numerous modifications will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art, it is not intended to limit the invention to theprecise embodiment shown and described but all suitable modificationsand equivalents may be readily resorted to which fall within the scopeof the appended claims.

Having described the claimed as new is:

1. In a pressure responsive switch assembly having a tiltable containerpartially filled with mercury, a pair of contacts in said containeradapted to be closed by the mercury in one position of the switch, and abafile wall in said con-- tainer provided with a passageway forproducing a delayed operation, a pressure responsive means for tiltingsaid container, comprising a pressure responsive diaphragm, and meansfor completely tilting the mercury switch when the pressure responsivediaphragm is moved to a predetermined extent, said last named meansincluding a member pivotally mounted on said diaphragm and responsive tothe movement of the diaphragm, a roller rotatably secured on saidmember, a worker arm attached to said container and provided with apointed end, and means to maintain engagement between said worker armand said roller for tilting said container completely as soon as thepointed end of the worker arm passes from one side of the roller to theother side during the movement of the diaphragm.

2. For use in a pressure responsive mercury switch assembly having amercury switch provided with a container partially filled with mer curyand a pair of circuit controlling contacts closed by the mercury whenthe switch is tilted, a bailie wall in said container provided with amercury passageway and a vent aperture for delaying the flow of mercurywithin the container, thereby producing a time delay between invention,what is A a tilting of the container and the closing of the contact,means for tilting said container completely in response to pressurevariation exceeding a predetermined value, said means comprising apressure responsive diaphragm, an arm pivotally connected with saiddiaphragm and performing a movement proportional to the diaphragmmovement, said arm carrying a roller rotatably secured to the same, ahousing for the pressure responsive device, a worker arm ofsubstantially L-shape pivotally secured to the housing, said worker armbeing rigidly connected to said container, andbeing adapted to engagesaid roller, means continuously urging said roller into engagement withsaid worker arm and other means selectively urging said worker arm intoengagement with said roller, and means operatively connected to saiddiaphragm and said housing for adjusting the movement of the diaphragmfor controlling the pressure at which said diaphragm is moved to theextent required for the actuation ofsaid mercury switch. a

3. For use with a tilting type switch, a pressure responsive tiltingmechanism comprising;

a housing, a pressure responsive diaphragm mounted in said housing, anarm pivotally at tached to said diaphragm, said housing having, a slottherein, said arm extending through said, slot, an upstanding bracketmounted on said.

housing, a working arm mounted for limited pivotal movement on saidbracket, means biasing said working arm into one position, a, clamp,

on said arm adapted to support a switch means on said arm, means biasingsaid first mentioned arm toward said bracket, a roller journaled on saidfirst mentioned arm, a beveled end on said working arm, said rollerengaging said beveled,

end to determine the position of said working arm.

4. For use with a tilting type switch, a pressure responsive tiltingmechanism comprising;

a housing, a pressure responsive diaphragm mounted in said housing, anarm pivotally attached to said diaphragm, said housing having a slottherein, said arm extending through said, slot, an upstanding bracketmounted on said' housing, a working arm mounted for limited pivotalmovement on said bracket, means biasing said working arm into oneposition, a clamp on said arm adapted to support a switch means on saidarm, means biasing said first mentioned arm toward said bracket, a,roller journaled on said first mentioned arm, a beveled end on said 7working arm, said roller engaging said beveled end to determine theposition of said working arm, biasing means yieldingly urging saiddiaphragm in one direction.

WINIFRED J. TURNUPSEED. HARLEY E. TURNUPSEED.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

